There has been a bit of a scandal in France just recently. It has been reported here in the UK as one of those summer stories about ‘those funny foreigners’, but it is actually quite serious, I think.
In many parts of Europe, topless sunbathing on the beach is accepted, relatively common and legal. And harmless.
However, in France, the adults in a family on one particular beach objected to three women sunbathing topless and called the police on them. You can read about it here.
During the summer, I like to have days out exploring. Not so much this year, but I thought I would try.
Kent is always an accessible place, and I was looking at Maidstone. I pulled up Google Maps, picked a random place and found… a guy peeing!
When I moved to London in the 1970s I was a poor student. Finding money for entertainment was not easy, and the BBC was a godsend, especially the radio.
For the price of exactly nothing you could go to see a radio show or two being recorded at one of their central London studios and enjoy something that you could listen to again later and share with friends: “I was there”.
The usual venue was the old Paris Cinema in Lower Regent Street. It was quite an historic place. Lots of great shows had been recorded there, even The Goon Show and Dad’s Army. It was also used for rock concert recordings and as such was a cosy venue.
Usually you could just roll up and get a ticket for a comedy or quiz show, especially on a rainy evening. I have fond memories of going in and walking down those windy wooden stairs. It’s not used by the Beeb now, they use the radio theatre in Broadcasting House, a larger and much more impersonal venue.
